Ex-Khmer Rouge leader acknowledges for first time that regime committed genocide

KER MUNTHITAssociated Press Writer

Published Wednesday, December 31, 2003

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- A former Khmer Rouge leader expected to face a U.N. tribunal acknowledged Tuesday there is "no more doubt left" that his regime committed genocide, the first admission of the communist group's collective guilt.

Khieu Smaphan's surprising statement in an interview with The Associated Press is a major step in the long overdue effort to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians during the ultra-leftist group's 1975-79 rule.

Many of the victims were executed; the rest died of starvation, disease and overwork in the Khmer Rouge's attempt to create an agrarian utopia. Now, with an agreement on a tribunal earlier this month between U.N. and Cambodian officials, ex-Khmer Rouge leaders should soon face charges for the first time.

A former head of state and one of the few top Khmer Rouge leaders still alive, Khieu Samphan, 72, is certain to be indicted. Speaking by telephone from his home, he apparently hoped to begin giving his version of Cambodia's bloody history before his likely prosecution for genocide and crimes against humanity.

He insisted he never ordered any killings -- and claimed he only learned from a documentary two months ago about the extent of the Khmer Rouge's crimes.

"Everything has to go the trial's way now, and there's no other way," he said. "I have to prepare myself not to let the time pass away. But I also want the public to understand about me, too. I was not involved in any killings."

Until Tuesday, none of the Khmer Rouge's top leaders had publicly accepted that the government committed genocide.

But Khieu Samphan said he realized he could no longer ignore the Khmer Rouge's atrocities after he saw a documentary about the notorious S-21 prison, presented to him by a Cambodian-French filmmaker, Rithy Pan.

"When I saw the film, it was hard for me to deny (the killings). There's no more doubt left," said Khieu Samphan, who lives in Pailin, 175 miles northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.